Girish

Popular percussionist Girish is blasting through the defining boundaries of the chant music genre, bringing a fresh, exciting, and deeply spiritual interpretation that is sure to change the way that audiences and performers think of chant music. You may readily recognize the familiar sound of Girish's tabla playing, which has consistently graced popular chant recordings for the last decade. He has accompanied such celebrated artists as Snatam Kaur, Krishna Das, Rasa, Thomas Barquee, Dave Stringer, and Wah! Now Girish is revolutionizing the world of chants with his funky, stirring style. His voice is well trained through years of studying Sanskrit and chanting for hours a day, year after year. "I took mantras that are 10,000 years old and combined them with a musical style that makes the benefit of the mantras accessible and appealing to modern listeners," says Girish. But rather than translating the mantras, he kept the integrity of the Sanskrit sounds intact for a reason. "When you chant, the mantra acts as a portal to the presence of the deity whose name you're chanting. There's this whole energy field built up around a mantra that has been used for thousands of years and has this vortex of spiritual power built around it," he explains. "Sanskrit is the mother tongue of the English language and all of the romance languages."-